In recent years, great strides have been made in the development of the implantable defibrillator. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 27,652 and Re. 27,757, for disclosures of the first fully implantable standby ventricular defibrillator. This art has steadily been developing, and it is expected that within the near future, it will be common for high risk patients to be wearing implanted standby ventricular defibrillators.
Because the implanted ventricular defibrillator could stand as the last link between the sustenance of life and death by reason of ventricular fibrillation, it is important that techniques be developed for ensuring the proper functioning of the implanted circuitry. One approach has already been developed, and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,750. This patent discloses an externally actuatable implantable circuit which is capable of delivering defibrillating pulses to an implanted test load to verify the operation of the charging and discharge circuits.
Notwithstanding the significant advances which have taken place since the development of the first fully implantable standby ventricular defibrillator, there is much room in the art for advancement. For at the present time, while it is possible to evaluate the condition of the charging and discharge circuits, the operation of the fibrillation detection circuitry cannot be verified.
It is toward filling the aforementioned void in the art, that the present invention is directed.